Pollution                                                                                                                               In southern California, their was an oil spill. It amazes that the oil from a few miles off the coast can hurt seabirds, even though are so far away. It's a very sad thought to me. If this can happen, then who knows what other human-caused things can happen? We only have one Earth, and there's no making a new one, like we make new towns or cities. We can't just sail away once this planent is aborbsed by the Sun, and disappears in only a few minutes. "An island is like a test-lab," says my teacher, Mr.Wulff. Although his point is valid, and an island can very well be called a test-lab, it can also be said that an island is excactly the opposite, an example of real life. How does this all relate to the oil spill? It relates because if an oil spill were to happen on the mainland, then we wouldn't really be able to understand what was wrong. It could of been a dog that hurt it, a cat, a human, a disease. But when an oil spill happens on the Channel Islands, we can elliminate many of those choices, and come to the conclusion that it was the oil spill. Although it may seem that I am totally away from the point, all of this ties together. If you think about what has happened with this oil spill, then you can understand that we must be more careful! There is no other planet we can fly off too! If we have sea birds dying because of an oil spill, then soon we will have humans dying because of an accidental explosion, if we stay on this path! The animals on our islands must be able to live, reproduce, and then die of a natural cause, or an animal that ate it. What will happen if we have tons of animals dying, for other reasons? How will the other animals survive without the other animals, that were their food? This is already happening. Nature is already different then it was many years before, when indians lived in harmony with the world. In conclusion, we must take better care of our earth, because it is the only one we have. Resources:http://www.nps.gov/chis/naturescienc By:Fidelity	Overgrazing Overfishing was not the only problem that was brought about by humans. There was also overgrazing. Many years ago, sheep were brought to the island, by the Spanish explorers. The sheep grazed on the island, making the amount of grass on the island go down. Because their was nothing to hold the dirt to the ground, it blew all over the place, and was weathered down and eroded. This caused scientists to call it a "barren lump of sand." That describes what the island looked like back then perfectly. The island was rocky and barren, and it looked terrible. The plants on the island could not grow back, and it also caused problem with the water. The sheep would graze in or around the water, eating up plants, and polluting the water with their leavings. Because of this, the dirt around the water would start to weather. This made the water warmer and shallower, which harmed the animals that lived their. On top of that, it also made the conditions right for harmful microorganisms, that made the water harmful to humans. Overgrazing is now regarded as the reason why the population of trout went down. Since then, many plants have made a comeback, making the islands look more like an island, and less like a desert. People should take this into account, before they release there hedgehog onto the street, because they couldn't afford to take care of it anymore. That hedgehog could take over, and kill all of the other animals. It could find another hedgehog that had been released, an reproduce, causing even more animals to die. The hedgehog would dominate. It would take over EVERYTHING! The possibilities are endless. In conclusion, you shouldn't put an animal where it doesn't belong. Resources:http://www.nps.gov/chis/planyourvisit/san-miguel-island.htm http://books.google.com/books?id=DuCNxKlDLogC&pg=PA179&lpg=PA179&dq=Overgrazing+Channel+Islands&source=bl&ots=EFQJtjeuJH&sig=574qo0xZTi2pA1u11ewTJiz8Dys By:Fidelity
Overfishing Overfishing? What exactly does that word mean? It means hundreds of coral reefs dying every year, because of a disease. How do these things relate to eachother? How can we get from overfishing to coral reefs? It’s one simple step, It’s one simple word. Disease. People are overfishing in the Channel Islands. It might not seem serious, but it causes problems. Such as this one. If all these fish are being fished out, then that leaves very few fish. The fish ate coral. That means that the coral population is going up! This might not seem like a bad thing, but it is. When the population of coral goes up, it means that the coral is going to start getting diseases, because that is what happens when the coral gets closer to the other coral, and when the population goes up. This is causing problems, because it means that now, instead of going up, the coral population is going down, which most likely means that even more fish are dying because they don't have enough food. It's one nasty circle, that can't be fixed easily. California has declared about 175 square miles of water, around the Channel Islands, as a no-fishing zone. In 2007, they added another 145 square miles to the 175. The Channel Islands are now recovering from all the fishing, and hopefully the Coral Reefs are too. “Kelp forests are so sensitive. If you remove some of the predators, then you can have an effect on the entire kelp forest ecosystem," said Ben Halpern. I believe that his wording on this matter is perfect. It's just like taking the sugar out of a cookie. It's going to take a long time to make it taste good again, and it's never going to be as good as it could of been, if you had added the sugar. I hope that this will influence people to start catching and releasing, instead of taking home dinner. Resources:www.instadv.ucsb.edu/93106/?2006/June22/nceas.html http://www.nrdc.org/water/oceans/worlds/page1.asp By:Fidelity	Pesticides DDT is a pesticide that was banned in 1972. Its purpose was to get rid of mosquito’s that ate and spread diseases on farmer’s crops. When a soldier would get lice, it would be sprayed with DDT to get rid of it. At the time, it seemed that DDT was harmless. Malaria was passed on from mosquito to human. People wanted these creatures dead. It seemed like a good idea to spray the crops with pesticides, but we know now what terrible things this has caused for the Channel Islands. DDT was banned, but some of it (or should I say 1,800 tons of it) was in the sewers of Los Angles. “DDT has since been banned, but about 1,800 tons of it made its way into the sewers of Los Angeles. From there, it wound up in the mud of the ocean floor off the Palos Verdes peninsula, where the city’s wastewater pipeline emptied into the ocean. It is still awaiting cleanup,” Melinda Burns states. This article was written on Saturday, April 28th 2007. Whether the DDT was cleaned up or not, I don’t know, but I do know that it has made a big impact on animals on the Channel Islands. Fish became contaminated with the DDT, and birds ate the fish. The DDT traveled to the Channel Islands. Because of this, the birds shells became thinner, and some birds became extinct. Melinda Burns found a formally extinct bird on the Channel Islands, and it was very exciting to think that they were making an impact. Because of the problems that birds have had on the Channel Islands, people have realized that we must take better care of our animals, because their is only one planet that we can live on, and that is Earth. In conclusion, we should make sure that we make wise choices about the pesticides that we use, such as those that we use on our front yard. Resources: http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/Fall02/Mosquito es.html By:Fidelity
Cats This was another problem on the Channel Islands. As well as rats, cats were also introduced to the Channel Islands by humans. Most of the cats were brought their in the 1800's to be pets of farmers and fisherman. Although it may seem that cats could do no harm, these cats changed life on the Channel Islands. They were just normal house-cats. When they arrived at the Channel Islands, probably arriving on a boat, they feasted on animals. There are 100 to 200 cats on the island, and that did a lot of damage to the seabirds, because the cats ate the birds. Because of this, humans wanted to save the birds, so they planned to release specialized dogs, to eat them. They also planned to have hunters shoot them, with non-lead bullets. Animal rights organizations oppose of this plan, and think that they should try some other plan. The plans that they suggested didn't work out, and so they decided to go ahead with their plan. The estimated time that it was going to take was 1 year. I personally oppose of this plan. Although I love birds of all kinds, I think that killing all of the cats is not the best idea, and I firmly think that the Animal rights organization has the right idea. I think that an adoption center should be made on the island and the mainland, and the animals could be given to the adoption center on the mainland, to be taken care of and be given off to a new owner. These poor cats should deserve a chance to have a new home. These cat's were brought there by humans in the first place, and now we have decided to kill them off, because we have no better ideas! We can't just decided to destroy our house, because we don't like that window, or that bedroom, or that carpet! We decide to change it in a way that doesn't ruin our entire house, such as painting, or getting new carpet! In conclusion, I think that people across the world should not be so cruel to animals. By:Fidelity Resources:http://alleycatrescue.blogspot.com/2008/06/feral-cats-on-san-nicholas-island-to-be.html http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-news/2008/06/25/feral-cats-on-san-nicolas-face-death.asp	Global Impact On Friday, November 29, 2001, rat poisoning was dropped on Anacapa Island. The rat poisoning was intended to kill the black rat, or Rattus rattus. Little did anyone know that this rat poisoning was going to cause dire problems on the island. They were planning to drop even more rat poison in November or December, in 2002. They rat poisoning was intended to kill the rats, because they were feasting on the Xantu’s Murrelt, which is a small bird that lives on the cliffs island. This astounds me. These rats were brought to the island by humans. The rats most likely were stowed away on the ships, and they came out when the ship landed. The humans noticed what was going on, and they realized that the Xantu’s Murrelt’s population was going down. Because of this, they decided to poison the rats, to save the birds. They tried to fix the problem. After they poisoned them, the rats died. Was that good? I don’t think so. Other animals ate the dead rats, causing them to be poisoned and die. Now we have a smaller population of Xantu’s Murrelt, dead rats over the island, and tons of dead poisoned animals. On top of this, the island has a very gross smell. In conclusion, you shouldn’t mess with nature. By:Fidelity Resources:  http://www.dailynexus.com/article.php?a=1940 Wild Pigs The Channel Islands pigs were destroying the natural balance on the Channel Islands, and after that, it was never the same. The pigs were brought by the Spanish. The Spanish brought the pigs, so they could use it kind of like a warehouse, and it was easy, because the pigs were isolated on the islands, and they could go over whenever they wanted, and have food, so it worked out nicely. The Spaniards thought everything was fine, so they brought the pigs, and the pigs reproduced, and they had food, but what they didn’t know was that they were disturbing the natural balance of the Channel Islands. By: Bianca Resources: NPS.gov